Schools to open during strike, services disrupted

April 21, 2010

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Nancy Rohr, right, of San Clemente, holds a sign that says "Permanent Cut? Cut the Board" in front of the Capistrano Unified School District offices in San Juan Capistrano on April 13. Rohr has two kids in Capo Unified schools in San Clemente. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Nancy Rohr, right, of San Clemente, holds a sign that says "Permanent Cut? Cut the Board" in front of the Capistrano Unified School District offices in San Juan Capistrano on April 13. Rohr has two kids in Capo Unified schools in San Clemente. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – All campuses in the Capistrano Unified School District will remain open if teachers begin striking Thursday as anticipated, but the school day will be shortened at some schools and many programs and services will be canceled, including bus transportation across the 52,000-student district, officials said.

Most of the district's 2,200 educators are expected to start picketing outside their campuses shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday morning to protest Capistrano Unified's failure to make a "clear, unambiguous offer" to settle a bitter pay cut dispute, according to the teachers union.

It is unknown how long the strike will last; contract talks in Orange County's second-largest school district could resume as early as the first day of the strike.

"We are ready to provide a solid, stable educational environment for our kids," school board President Anna Bryson said Wednesday. "I look forward to getting past this sad moment and onto a wonderful future with our teachers."

Capistrano Unified's school board unilaterally imposed a 10.1 percent pay cut on teachers in March, after nearly a year of unsuccessful negotiations.

While all 56 district campuses will remain open Thursday, bell schedules will be altered at many schools, and some classes will be canceled entirely, including zero period. At the district's six high schools, the school day will be shortened, with dismissal at 1:35 p.m.

Also, all bus transportation in the district will be canceled Thursday, except for special-education students.

School officials are telling parents that students will not necessarily report to their regular classrooms, and most after-school activities – from sports to tutoring to club meetings – will be canceled, at least on the first day of the strike.

[UPDATED INFORMATION] Some, but not all, student drama and music productions will continue as scheduled, as will all food services and after-school care programs, according to the district.

"The district is arranging for substitute teachers and putting necessary plans in place to continue to keep schools open and provide a safe and operational educational program for our students and employees," the district said in a statement on its website. "Schools will send site-specific information to their communities. ... We appreciate your patience and understanding."

The district also is hiring unarmed security guards for all of its campuses to ensure picketers do not disrupt pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

Number of strikers unknown

It is unknown how many teachers will participate in the strike. Three out of every four teachers cast a ballot over a two-day voting period last week supporting a strike. (About 85 percent of the district's 2,200 teachers voted, and about 87 percent of those teachers voted to authorize the strike, according to the union.)

Capistrano Unified's school board said in a statement Wednesday that it was "saddened" to learn teachers in the district will begin striking on Thursday, but stressed that all schools will remain open and that trustees "remain hopeful" for a speedy, mutually acceptable resolution to settle teachers' bitter pay cut dispute.

Capistrano's teachers say they are fed up with the district's failure to make a "clear, unambiguous offer" to return to the bargaining table and settle the remaining issues related to a 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on them.

The Capistrano Unified Education Association union sent a letter Monday to the district saying it would not go on strike over the 10.1 percent pay cut if Capistrano Unified agree to four demands upfront.

The district replied Tuesday it could not agree to the terms upfront because it would constitute an "unfair labor practice," although officials stressed they were "willing and prepared" to meet as early as Thursday.

"Pre-conditioning a return to the bargaining table upon the acceptance of a negotiation proposal backed up by a threat of a strike constitutes, among other things, an unfair labor practice," Capistrano Unified attorney John Rajcic said in a one-page letter to the union.

District caught off-guard by strike

District officials said they did not know at the time they agreed to the Thursday meeting that teachers would begin striking the same day.

In a letter Monday, the union said the district could schedule a meeting anytime between Tuesday and Friday; the strike was not announced until late Tuesday, after the district suggested the Thursday meeting.

And although the union formally notified the district Wednesday morning of its intent to strike, district officials said that the union did not simultaneously confirm the Thursday meeting time.

"Our priority has had to shift to ensuring our schools are open and providing a safe education for our kids, based on the recent turn of events," said Jodee Brentlinger, the district's assistant superintendent for personnel. "Our invitation still exists. We are ready, willing and able."

A union spokesman said Wednesday afternoon that the union was finalizing a response to the district regarding the Thursday meeting.

"We are committed to talk to the district Thursday morning, asking them to clarify if they are breaking the impasse by actually being willing to bargain with us in good faith, with the proposals we sent them Monday as the basis for negotiations," union President Vicki Soderberg said in a statement Wednesday.

Only teacher strike in state

Capistrano's teacher strike would be the first in Orange County in a decade, and the only one in California this year, at least so far.

The California Teachers Association says about 17 school districts in a five-county region – Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Imperial – are currently at impasse in contract negotiations.

The most recent Orange County teacher strike was in the Orange Unified School District in April 2000, when up to 70 percent of teachers picketed for one day to protest an employment contract imposed on them by the school board, according to news reports.

Orange Unified trustees said the contract gave teachers an 8 percent raise retroactive to two years earlier; union leaders disputed that figure and stressed it would not bring teacher pay up to the county median.

The school board did not back down, and teachers returned to work after the one-day strike.

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